When I planned my eldest daughter's first birthday, never did I expect myself to get carried away with the decorating aspect of it all one day. It used to be just baking the cake! Anyway, you could say that I WAS kind of carried away this year. But oh such fun! *humming happily*

My little miss Olivia turned six last month, and in a very Olivia fashion, she declared early on that she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday party (almost half a year earlier to be exact - or may be even earlier? She even managed to talk me into buying the little toy that went on top of her cake. How's that for being organised?) Well, I love birthdays and I guess I just can't help having a little fun with the birthdays in our family except my own - I'm still hoping that someday someone would bake for me *hint hint*.

Originally, I asked Olivia if she wanted to have her birthday in one of those play gyms, but she flat out refused. I want a tea party at home, she said. Which meant there would be so much more work involved, but let's face it - it is darn hard to transform a play centre birthday room. Renting one of the rooms is convenient, but definitely a dead sentence for a perfectionist like me [T_T].

Anyway, the birthday cake is going to have the Strawberry Shortcake doll on the top, but I opted not to go all out with the actual Strawberry Shortcake images. Instead I loosely incorporated the strawberry theme and this is what I came up with for the invitation:

Pretty cool, huh?

My inspiration came from paper doilies. Don't you just loooove the soft girlishness of it all? At the beginning combining the strawberry theme and the checked white and red picnic theme seemed like the obvious choice, but I was so much happier when I finally settled with the much simpler white doily and white polka-dotted pale pink background. And the cross-stitched typeface really brings out the whimsical feeling of the vintage Strawberry Shortcake show.

I call it nanna chic.

Anyway, I decided to carry the theme to the rest of the decorations with the exception of the white and red checked tablecloth. I have always preferred small dessert table to keep things nice and simple. Besides, who is going to eat all those sweets once all the kids are gone??? Definitely not ME.

So what do you think of the happy birthday banner? At the beginning I sort of regretted using red but it stood out really well. I am glad I made the choice. And flowers definitely works all the time! I got my bunch real cheap from Woolworths. They really perked up my table. Here is a closer look:

I love the tiny ceramic milk bottles. They are one of my best buys and are so versatile! If you're interested, you can check them out at any TYPO stores or here. I was also lucky enough to get the backdrop wooden pallet (Thanks, boo!). You can use them pallets for many DIY projects - I am looking forward to creating more things with the pallets in the future, actually.

And here is the cake:

It's dark chocolate almond cake with whipped strawberry frosting. I will share the recipe of the cake at a later date, but as for the frosting, you could get it from Bakingdom here. Honestly, the best strawberry frosting I've ever tasted! It makes me want to lick my plate clean.

I got the template for the strawberry goodie box from Oh Happy Day (link here). It's oh-so-cuuuuteee!!! If you love DIY projects, make sure you visit the blog and check it out. She also has a lot of cute printable templates like this one.

The rum balls were divine... I put lots of rum into the dark chocolate dough and o boy o boy o boy what beautiful aroma they have! Adult only, of course. The cake pops were dark chocolate almond coated with dark chocolate melt, by the way. I just looooove dark chocolate!

Some more pictures...

...And that's the rest of the pictures! I hope you guys enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed making them. Until next time. Toodle-oo!!

I share my post at these link parties. Check them out for more inspirations!

And my little ballerina continues to grow… before I know it she’s ready to perform a full pirouette. Do you think she’ll make it? ⠀⠀
For those who don’t know, this ballerina is part of an ongoing project that I’m doing with my good friend who is also a talented composer and musician. Every time he composes a phrase, I continue the drawing. As the music grows so does the little ballerina. Atm it’s only my sketches, but I can’t wait to show the whole picture with the music one day. This is also inspired by own little ballerina who is almost 9 and quietly passionate about her dancing. It’s a pleasure to pour my pride and fascination on paper as I watch over her. ⠀⠀ #balletgirl #mangastyle #mangaart #mangaartwork #mangadrawing #mangadraw #mangadraws #mangastyle #mangaka #mangaartist #cutedraw #cutedrawing #cuteart #cutedrawings #kawaiiart #kawaiidrawing #kawaiidraw #kawaiiartist #illustrationart #illustrationoftheday #childrenillustration #fanartist #drawinglove #balletlove #ilovedraw #ilovedrawing #ilovedrawsomething #ipadart #illustrated #mangasketch

WHO INSPIRED YOUR PASSION AND WHY? To me it was my mother. She was always on the floor with me drawing when I was little and she was the first person who taught me how to draw people! She taught me to be courageous, to be kind and to be happy with myself. She taught me that it’s okay not to be mainstream, and to go with the flow when things are difficult. She taught me to always have God in my heart so I’d have strength whenever I go. She’s my ultimate superwoman. @aigita_tjandrasjahan Happy #internationalwomensday mum ! Love you very much!
⠀⠀ #mangaartist #mangadrawing #mangadraw #mangadraws #mangadrawings #animedrawings #girlsdrawinggirls #arttrade #arttrades #drawinggirl #drawinggirls #girldrawing #mangasketching #cutedrawing #cutedrawings #cutedraw #cuteartwork #cuteart #kawaiidrawing #kawaiidraw #kawaiidrawings #kawaiisketch #cutesketch #drawinglove #ilovedrawing #drawchallenge #originalartwork #characterdrawing #charactersketch